Recently I have been hosting a very negative attitude due to the fact that I was passed up for a new position within my job. It wasn’t a promotion, there was no prospective pay increase, and in fact, it would have required me to work in close proximity to people I felt less than enthusiastic about. However, it was my dream job. Boring to most people but an absolute dream-come-true for me. It was given to someone who had more experience than myself and I harbor no ill feelings about this; this is how things should work. My grudge came from asking repeatedly to be allowed to train one day a month in order to expand my knowledge within my career field and work with different departments, particularly the department where this recent position became available. I asked for over a year for this to happen and was consistently either ignored or shrugged to the side. Had I been given the opportunity that I asked for, I would have had time to learn what I needed to know in order to qualify me for the position. Would I have been chosen? There’s no way to tell. But the fact that the opportunity was taken away from me had started to really wear on my mind. That’s when the what ifs began to creep into my thoughts. What if I had pushed harder? What if I had demanded or gone to HR to inquire after their reasons for denying me the additional training I had requested? What if I had said some of this during my interview?

I am here to tell you that “what ifs” can eat you alive. And they’re not worth it.

This post is almost as much of a therapy session for me as it is an encouragement for those who might need it. Every day I go to work, there’s a part of me that dreads it. I deal with the public daily and I’m becoming less of a people person over the years in public service, but I can’t let my negative attitude affect my job. I am a servant of the community in which I work and I need to remember that.

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT here to tell you that everything is hunky-dory and that “everything will work out.” That’s a cliche and I’m not here to offer that. I’m here to be realistically positive. Do I need to put my heart and soul into everything I do? Maybe, but I probably won’t. Faking happiness only gets you so far and at some point, you will burn out on it. Find little joys in life and take each day as it comes. Things will go wrong and they’re not going to fix themselves overnight. You might be miserable for a while before things start to change, but that doesn’t mean you have to FEEL miserable.

I am all about being positive but I’m also about being realistic. Do you have to be happy all day, every day? Of course not. That’s not natural and to those of us watching your insatiable happiness, it’s annoying. Find things that make you smile throughout the day. A text with a friend (have that bitch buddy who can listen to you vent a time or two during the day and who can make you laugh when you need it). A meme on Google (something that may be immature or silly but it’s just what you need to see when you’re ready to hit someone). A book (something on your lunch break that can distract you and transport you to a different time and place). A project (something you enjoy doing, like a hobby, that can also take your mind off the stresses in your life). Whatever it is, enjoy it and make it last. Share it with others if you have to. Don’t expect unrealistic positivity to smack you in the face, but also don’t focus on the negative. Let’s face it, none of us have time for that.

…you finish a novel! Of course, you’re never really “done” with a novel until it’s been printed, but I can confidently say that for the first time ever I have finished writing and editing (two rounds) of a novel that I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to accomplish this task. Devoting at least 30 minutes a day during the month of November in order to write a complete novel seemed like a challenge, but that was the easy part! The hard part was finding the time after that to sit down and edit and revise. Between working full-time, applying for schools to continue my education, and personal commitments, I have to admit that I fell short of meeting my “deadline” to finish this book.

I could not have done it without the constant support and encouragement of my fellow writers. They pushed me to never give up and they never pressured me about why it wasn’t done. I don’t know what my next step it from here, but I know that one day this book will be in a spine and on my bookshelf. Even if I have to print one copy from CreateSpace, I want to see it on my shelf and know that I did it.

Share this post if you need encouragement in writing or if you know someone else who needs it. For me, It’s not about getting the book published through a mainstream company (though that would be nice), it’s about setting out to perform a task and following it through to completion. I am proud of what I have accomplished.

The tale of Rumpelstiltskin is one of my absolute favorites so when I learned that Naomi Novik had written a short story in a collection of retold fairy tales, I hurriedly picked it up and read it. The book was The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe.

Then I discovered that the author decided to expand upon that short story and create a whole novel from it and I was even more excited! I have to say this book was much better than her previous novel, Uprooted, which I liked but couldn’t rave about. Spinning Silver, on the other hand, was a great book. I loved the simplicity of the short story and this novel held on to that for the most part. It read like a fairy tale being retold but the characters were more likable and fleshed out. I love Novik’s ability to intertwine reality with fantasy.

My only complaint about this book was that the point of view went back and forth between many characters and usually that doesn’t bother me. In this case, the POVs were not clearly notated and as a listener of the story rather than a reader, sometimes I was confused as to who was narrating the story. Reading perhaps I would not have encountered that problem. Other than that, this was a delightful fantasy story and I recommend it to anyone who likes Naomi Novik, fairy tales, or the fantasy genre.

I received Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty from Macmillan and Aladdin from W.W. Norton, both as Advanced Reader Copies in exchange for an honest review. I was super thrilled to receive both of these copies. I had never read a Liane Moriarty book and this was the perfect excuse to pick one up, and I have always been a huge fan of fable retellings, new translations, and fairy tales in general (not to mention Disney versions of these stories), so I was beyond excited to see Aladdin in the mailbox.

I must admit my only experience with the story of Aladdin comes from growing up with the 1992 Disney film, but this new translation brought me to “a whole new world” so to speak. It was interesting, intriguing, and easy-to-read in it’s simplistic fairy tale form. I love fairy tales, retold mythologies, and new translations of beloved stories so this book was right up my alley.

This new translation by Yasmine Seale, edited by Paulo Lemos Horta, brought the Aladdin tale alive in a brand new way for me. While I enjoyed Robin Williams’ rendition of the happy and bubbly jinni, the darker and more mysterious creature from the folk tale is much more interesting. Although the tale would become famous as one of the Thousand and One Nights, I was surprised to learn that the tale originated in 18th century France and was later added to the list of Shahrazad’s tales. On top of that, this story takes place in China, not the Middle-East which also threw me for a loop. This new edition was a learning experience and I am so glad I was able to dig deeper into this wonderful story. It is a short book and sure to make for a fast read for those of you who need a quick pick-me-up in your 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Nine strangers check into a mysterious health resort which is run by an even more mysterious leader. Is everyone what they seem?

This was the fantastic premise for Liane Moriarty’s latest book, Nine Perfect Strangers and I’m so glad I received this ARC. I’ve never read Liane Moriarty before and this was a great first experience. The character development in this book is nothing short of wonderful. Moriarty created nine unique and eclectic characters that readers will love and be mystified by. Each person forces us to look inside ourselves for our own shortcomings, weaknesses, and strengths. Moriarty plays as much a psychological game as she does an emotional one.

My only complaint on this book was how it ended. I felt almost cheated at the end. It was abrupt and felt rushed and slightly unrealistic. However, the rest of the book made up for it and I did not DISLIKE the ending, I just wished that the author had incorporated parts of it earlier in the book to tie it all together. But overall, highly recommended.

Both of these titles are scheduled to be released in November so be sure to pre-order them either at your local bookstore or library.

I know it’s been a while since my last post but I hope that doesn’t discourage you. I’m still reading and reviewing. My next review will post shortly for Naomi Novik’s latest fantasy retelling of the classic Rumpelstiltskin story.

I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy from Penguin Random House.

I really enjoyed this book. The subject of rape and rape culture in this country is always a touchy one and most of the time leads to a wide range of emotional reactions. I truly appreciated the organization of this book. Although I did have to go back and remind myself where I was in the timeline of the mixture of stories, I loved how the authors left each chapter on a cliffhanger. It was written like a suspense novel rather than a stagnant nonfiction. This book contained detailed research and undisputed information that is vital to understanding how victims of rape can become of victims of police injustice as well. Marie’s story is powerful. There are times when I understood why police in Lynwood doubted her story. However, this book also highlights the dangers of the reasons behind false reporting charges. Saying a rape victim didn’t “act like a victim” is a phrase we as a society need to move away from. There is no proper way to “act” after being the victim of a sexual assault. Someone as outgoing and dramatic as Marie was accused of being a liar because she didn’t react to the rape in an outgoing and dramatic fashion. Even the most open person can shut down when something so personal, private, and irreversibly damaging happens to them. I was glad to see that there is positive change within law enforcement departments around the country that came from this terrible example and it is my sincere hope that another tragic episode does not need to happen for further change to take place.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who appreciated Jon Krakauer’s “Missoula.” The difference between the two books are that Krakauer focused on the epidemic of rapes on college campuses, the dangers of being victimized by someone familiar, and the inability or refusal to take action by the colleges and local law enforcement agencies while this book was more about the rarity of stranger rape and the dismissal of victim’s claims of sexual assault. Both books send a powerful message and everyone needs to read them and give themselves a greater understanding of the problem of rape in America.

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book from W.W. Norton Publishers. I was excited to read this because of the great reviews I was hearing about it.

The premise for this book is that Rachel can’t die, but she wants to. After living two thousand years and watching children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, lovers, husbands, and more pass away, who wouldn’t want to die? This book explores the subject of immortality and how on one side it sounds appealing, living forever, but realistically, is it really something humans should strive for?

I enjoyed how this book made a full circle and I appreciated the connections that the author made throughout the story between characters and events. I think my hold back for me was that I had just recently read “The Immortalists” by Chloe Benjamin which also tackled the subject of death with Jewish main characters. I may have been slightly burnt out on the topic by the time I got my hands on “Eternal Life.” However, I still think this book had a poignant message that transcends time and all walks of life.

In Baltimore, Maryland, 1944, Tess DeMillo finds herself pregnant and alone. Her only way of escape is to break off her engagement to the love of her life and marry the father of the baby which forces her to leave her hometown and move to Hickory, North Carolina. Married to a complete stranger, she soon discovers that there are deep secrets that her husband keeps from her and her day-to-day life in a small, Southern town as an intrusive outsider weighs on her constantly. When the polio epidemic reaches Hickory, Tess joins the force of the town to erect a hospital in fifty-four hours and save the lives of hundreds of children using her nursing skills. These events provide the backdrop to a moving story about a woman struggling to find her place in life while battling the tragedies that come at both her and the town.

When I first started reading this book, my initial reaction was, “I don’t like Tess. She’s stupid, she makes stupid decisions, and everything bad that happens to her is her fault and she deserves it because she’s stupid.” Just ask my boss. She had to hear about my complaints the entire first half of the book. But as the story progressed I began to, not necessarily “like” Tess as a main character, but I certainly grew to be sympathetic toward her. The people she interacts with along her journey grew on me as well.

Personally, I loved the setting of this novel. I’m from Annapolis, Maryland (about 30 minutes away from Baltimore) and I currently live in Alexander County, North Carolina (about 30 minutes away from Hickory). Both of these places are familiar to me and I was happy to see them both represented in this book.

I don’t think this book was as good as Diane Chamberlain’s “Necessary Lies,” but it still carried the same heavy weight of subject matter. Whether she’s writing about ethical eugenics in the 1960s or interracial marriage in the 1940s, Chamberlain has an amazing talent to draw up all of her readers’ emotions. I give her an A+ for making me angry, sad, and happy all in the same book. I can also appreciate Chamberlain’s extensive research behind the novel. She definitely does her homework when she writes her North Carolina-based historical fiction, researching every aspect she can get her hands on to create the most realistic and believable background for her stories. The fifty-four hour construction of a polio hospital in Hickory really happened, and this story brings that shining miracle of medical history to light.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read the author’s books before and enjoyed them.

I received this book as an Advanced Readers Copy from Penguin Random House and I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to read it before its publication. I originally had applied for the book because the publisher was giving away a black canvas bag with the cover art on it and it was beautiful. When I received the book I was excited (because I’m ALWAYS excited to receive unpublished proofs, it’s like Christmas up in here!), but I had no idea how much I would enjoy this book.

I’m going to open my review by saying that this book was not a “light” read by any means. There is some heavy subject matter in this book. The story follows four siblings, two brothers and two sisters, who, as children, visit a woman who can reveal to anyone the date of their death. The prophecy that she gives to each child haunts them for the rest of their lives and truly shapes their decisions and their fates. The tagline for this book is “If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?” and what a poetically magnetic tagline that is! It should absolutely make you want to read this book.

Without giving too much away, because I really do want everyone to read this book, there is so much love and loss, fight and triumph, and faith and forgiveness in this book that it is impossible to forget.

I can confidently say that the best part of this book for me was that I may not have personally agreed with some of the messages in this book, but each message was useful and truthful nonetheless. For example, many of the characters, though the family is ancestrally Jewish, confess to having little to no religious affiliation. As you read the book you discover their reasons for their lack of faith and maybe even understand it. As a Christian, I obviously disagree with their philosophies, but this book proves that all walks of life think, feel, love, and live differently. This doesn’t mean any one group of people is worth less than another. The author of this book really explores the possibilities within each person and how one destiny can shape someone else’s.

Each portion of the book played a part in the next and each character built upon the next. The author did an excellent job of blending the story together and weaving multiple amazing perspectives together to tell one cohesive narrative. This book will draw you in from page one and it will sample all of your emotions. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about the versatility of the human spirit and the resilience of familial relationships.

What happens to the last girl left standing after a massacre? The only survivor to a night of horror that left nothing but a trail of blood and lots of dead bodies? She is dubbed a “final girl.” This is the premise of the book that follows the life of Quincy, the only survivor of a massacre in a remote cabin in the woods by an escaped asylum patient. Ten years later, she has moved on from what happened to her until the first final girl ends up dead and the other shows up at Quincy’s door and forces her to relive her nightmare. This book was filled with twists and turns and unexpected relationships. For fans of “Pretty Girls” and “The Girl on the Train”, this book is a good thriller to keep you guessing.

Despite the fact that I am currently burned out on female-driven psychological thrillers, this book kept up a good, steady pace. I kept wanting to know what had happened in the past of the main character. I found myself drawn to the characters, even if by drawn I really mean, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND WHY ARE YOU BEING STUPID! STOP TAKING THE PILLS AND STOP LETTING THAT WOMAN LIVE WITH YOU!” At least my emotions were aroused! I think this genre is being overworked but this book still had some good qualities. Although I did not see the ending coming, I felt a bit cheated by it. I still definitely recommend this book to fans of the thriller genre. It’s a fast read and at the very least, enjoyable.

]]>https://thebibliophiliaco.com/2017/10/04/book-review-final-girls-by-riley-sager/feed/1shelliekennedyfinal girlsBook Review: Serafina and the Splintered Heart by Robert Beattyhttps://thebibliophiliaco.com/2017/09/29/book-review-serafina-and-the-splintered-heart-by-robert-beatty/
https://thebibliophiliaco.com/2017/09/29/book-review-serafina-and-the-splintered-heart-by-robert-beatty/#respondFri, 29 Sep 2017 15:02:42 +0000http://thebibliophiliaco.com/?p=1754Continue reading Book Review: Serafina and the Splintered Heart by Robert Beatty]]>

Serafina returned in the third installment of Robert Beatty’s epic Biltmore series and she did not disappoint. I love the imagination that went into the creation of this character and her story. I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an easy hour drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I absolutely obsess over this region! The scenery is so majestic and breathtaking that I can understand how it can inspire a writer like Beatty to create wonderful characters like Serafina, Braeden, and Waysa and plot lines such as a dark forest man wanting to take over the mountains, or a young girl being able to turn into a black panther. I enjoy the elements of heritage and folklore that are in these books as well as Serafina’s ability to press on against the odds. This particular book started off great with Serafina waking up buried alive in a shallow grave. The rest of the book followed a slower paced plot than the previous books, and I still think the second book, Serafina and the Twisted Staff, is my favorite. But overall, this I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the first two books. I’m always shocked at how dark this book is considering it is a juvenile title, but then again I guess it’s really no darker than some other juvenile fantasy series. As I’ve mentioned before, the fantasy genre is for many people seen as a version of escapism, but it also a glimpse into reality and the issues we face every day. Not sugar coating the level of evil in this story was a great way to incorporate real-world issues into a juvenile fantasy.

Beatty also says in his Author’s Note that there is a forthcoming series that takes place in the same region of Appalachia whose story may at some point intersect with the Serafina storyline. I’m so excited! I definitely encourage you to pick up this book. It is fun and sassy and full of Blue Ridge adventures!

Have you read the Serafina series yet? Share your thoughts in the comments below!